In Aeternam Vale (FR)

There are artists who have been sticking to the shadows, shying away from the glittering lights of The Mainstream, acting out their inner artistry without compromise for years. Then, one day, you incidentally come across one of their recordings, listen to it, and at that moment you could kick yourself in the face for not having discovered their productions earlier – and you feel an uncontrollable urge to get your sweaty hands on all of them.

In Aeternam Vale is exactly one of these timeless, experimental discoveries.

Initiated as a band in 1983 in Lyon, France with influences from punk-rock nihilism and aggressiveness, In Aeternam Vale quickly became the singular vision of one man, Laurent Prot, who transformed the project’s output into a more cold, caustic and minimalist expression. He released his first tape in 1985 and continued a prolific stream of releases during the following years. These eclectic productions wander between noisy pieces, haunting minimal sequences hammered by lead rhythms and sparse, hypnotic lyrics shelled like mantras.

In 2009, the record label Minimal Wave released the first vinyl album by In Aeternam Vale. This naturally helped expose Prot’s music to a larger group of people, which it definitely deserves. He’s been with the label since, releasing his timeless material, and you’d be surprised to discover that most of it is more than 20 years old.

Finally breaking through to a wider audience, Laurent Prot aka In Aeternam Vale is as ready as he will ever be to present his brooding, psychoactive techno on stage at this year’s PHONO – and we can hardly contain ourselves!